Slicing machine



Sept. 25, 1934. G. R. WOOD SLICING MACHINE Filed Jan. 22, 195C) 4 Sheets-Sheet l Sept. 25, 1934.

G. R. WOOD SLICING MACHINE Filed Jan. 22, 1930 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Snoewtoz mm QM Sept. 25, 1934.

FIGA:

G. R. WOOD 1,974,939

SLICING MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Jan. 22. 1930 awue'ntoz Sept. 25, 1934. G. R. WOOD. SLICING MAYCHIINE Filei Jan. 22 1950 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 anomtoz 'fiwgw Evan/4' em Patented Sept. 25, 1934 SLICING MACHINE George R. Wood, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, as-

signor, by mesne assignments, to International Business Machines Corporation,

New York,

N. Y., a corporation of New York Application January 22, 1930, Serial No. 422,564

9 Claims.

This case relates to the slicing machine art.

The object of the invention, in general, is to improve the'various parts of a slicing machine.

Specifically, one of the objects is to devise novel means for supporting a gage plate mechanism independently of and above the base of the machine. This-provides room beneath the mechanism for receiving slices and results in a more sanitary construction free of corners in'which food scraps or dirt may gather.

Further and other objects and advantages will be hereinafter set forth in the accompanying specification and claims, and shown in the drawings, which by way of illustration show what is now considered to be the preferred embodiment of the invention.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a view of the feeding side of the machine;

Fig. 2 is an end view of the machine;

Fig. 3 is a detail of the gage plate and knife;

Fig. 4 is a view, partly in section of the slice receiving side of the machine;

Fig. 5 is a front View of the gage plate adjusting means;

Fig. 6 is a detail of the carriage guiding means.

Referring to the drawings in detail, the slicing machine comprises a base 10011 which aremounted a motor 11 (Fig. 1) and a combined box frame and knife housing 12. The front of the housing is formed with a hub portion 13 carrying suitable bearings to journal the shaft 15 of a pulley 16 (see Fig. 1); To the face of the pulley, a disk knife 17 is fixed. A belt 18 drivin'gly connects pulley 16 to a pulley 19 on the motor shaft. Fixed to the top of the housing 12 by screws 20 is a cantilever frame or beam 21. -A cover plate 22 for the rear of the housing 12 is secured to the housing by upper and lower screws 23 the upper screws passing through holes in the top-piece 21. The knife is thus completely enclosed by the housing 12 and cover plate 22.

Grindstone 28 and burr-removing disk 29 are carried by the housing 12 and manipulated by knobs 26 (Fig.4) to sharpen the knife. To keep the grindstone 28 clean when idle, a' cover 31 is provided therefor, the cover being pivoted to the housing andoperated by a knob 33 (Fig. i) This latter structure forms the subject matter of my divisional application, Serial No. 499,237.

The cantilever beam'zl at its unsupported end has secured thereto by screws 38, a combined box frame and housing 39 for the gage plate mechanism. The housing is provided with a hub portion 40in which is journalled the shaft 41 of a cam disk 42 provided with circumferentially spaced cam surfaces 43. The shaft extends through the front of housing 39 and has threaded in its end a headed screw 44 to which is rigidly fastened a washer l5. Slidably keyed on the shaft ll for rotation therewith is a collar 46'between the base of which and the washer is positioned a coil spring 47 normally forcing the collar towards the frame 39. The latter'carries a segmental index plate 48 notched on its lower edge for cooperation with a pointer49 fast to collar 46. In adjusting the cam disk 42, the operator grasps the periphery of collar 4 6 and pulls it away from the segment 48. The pointer 49 is then free of the notches in the segment and the collar 46 may be turned to rotate shaft l1 and the cam disk. 42. When the pointer is opposite the desired-mark on the segment, the operator releases collar 46 and the pointer slides forward into a notch corresponding to the mark. The purpose of the notches is to prevent accidental, undesirable, movement of the cam disk.

Riding on each cam surface 43 is a roller 50 journalled between lugs 51 fixed to the gage plate To hold the rollers in contact with the cam surfaces, the gage plate has at each corner a. tube '53 in which is a spring 54 bearing on the head 55 of a rod 56 on which thetube is slidable. The rod 56 is fixed to the frame 39 sothat springs54 normally force the tubes and the gage plate rigid therewith towards the cam disk causing. rollers 50 to maintain contact with the cam surfaces.

The housing 39 and gage plate '52 are supported by cantilever beam 21 free and clear of the base 10. This constructionv permits a slice receiving tray 58 carried by the base to be positioned e'ntirely beneath the gage plate and its housing and to extend past the end of thebase 10. Formerly, the gage plate housing was supported by the base. As a result, the merchant moving the article feed.-

ing means from the side opposite the motor could not see the slices on the receiving tray. The present construction provides the. merchant with a clear view of the slices on the tray and also enables him to place his hand beneath the gage plate housing te -receive the slices as they'fall from the knife. Further, there are no corners formed by theintersections of base and gage plate housing to receive and collect food particles, providing a more sanitary and easily cleaned construction. Because it may extend beneath the gage plate housing and past the end of base 10, a wider and. longer tray may be used, thus per- 'mitting a greater number of slices to be conveniently received by the tray and alsoenabling the slices to be removed from the tray in an endwise direction by movement under the end of the gage plate housing.

The gage plate and housing structure is capable of being supported entirely from the cantilever beam but to brace the structure, an angle iron is fixed to and extends horizontally from a vertical post 61 fixed to the base on the side of the slicer opposite the motor and. slice-receiving side. The angle iron is bent vertically beneath the housing 39 and attached thereto.

A second post 63 in line with post 61 is fixed to the base at the opposite end of the machine, the posts carrying between them a round rail 64. Below and parallel to rail 64, the base has secured thereto a flat rail 65. The rails slidably support a carriage 66 for movement longitudinally of the machine past the knife edge. The carriage comprises a casting through which is an opening which receives the rail 64. A central depending extension or bracket 69 of the carriage terminates at its lower end in an offset portion 70 (see Fig. 6) having a recess '71 in which is journalled a roller 72. The roller engages one side of the flat rail 65. Fixed to bracket 69 opposite the portion 70 is a plate '73 in which is threaded a screw 74 adapted to contact the other side of the flat rail. Carriage 66 may be considered as pivotally mounted on rail 64. The weight of the carriage is distributed so that roller '72 normally presses against rail 65 while screw '74 is slightly spaced therefrom. The screw limits the pivotal motion of the carriage on rail 64 but ordinarily does not contact the rail 65. This arrangement combines with the rolling contact between rail 65 and roller '72 to provide a smooth frictionless sliding action of the carriage on the rails. To cushion the shock of engagement of the carriage with the posts 61 or 63 at either extreme of its movement the carriage is formed with depending ears 76 faced with rubber or felt bumpers 77.

Carriage 66 is formed with angular sides 78 and '79 carrying a similarly shaped tray 80 which, if desired, may directly carry the article thereon to be manually moved towards the gage plate. Preferably, however, clamping mechanism is provided which consists of an Lshaped clamp 81 having a horizontal clamp-down portion and a vertical pusher portion. The clamp 81 is carried by a support 82 slidable towards the gage plate along a rod 83 secured to the carriage. The clamp support 82 at the bottom carries a rack 84 operated towards the gage plate by gearing 85 actuated by a shaft 86 journaled on the carriage and rocked by a handle 87. The clamp support also carries a supplementary underlying article support 88. When the operator pushes on handle 87, he moves the carriage across the gage plate and knife to cause the knife to cut a slice from the article on the carriage, the slice being deflected by the deflector plate 89 onto the slice receiver 58. When the operator rocks the handle 87 transversely of the gage plate, the clamp 81 is moved towards the gageplate to cross-feed the article for the next slice. This briefly described clamping mechanism forms the subject matter of my divisional application, Serial No. 505,477.

The operation of the slicing machine is believed clear from the above description and it will be understood that modifications andvariations may be made within the scope of the invention Without departing from the spirit thereof. -I therefore wish to be limited only by the following claims:

1. A slicing machine comprising a generally horizontal base, a generally vertical frame mounted thereon, a generally vertical knife housed in. said frame, a cantilever beam rigidly extending from the upper part of said frame, a generally vertical gage plate mechanism for determining the thickness of a slice to be cut by said knife, means for hanging said gage plate mechanism from the free end of said cantilever beam to extend above and free of said base and a slice receiving tray carried by said base and extending beneath the end of the gage mechanism remote from said knife and intermediate its length extending horizontally beneath the gage mechanism.

2. A slicing machine comprising a generally horizontal base, a generally vertical frame mounted on the base, a generally vertically disposed knife housed in said frame, generally vertical gage plate mechanism for determining the thickness of slice to be cut by said knife, means for rigidly supporting said mechanism from the upper part of said frame adjacent the active cutting side of the knife and the end of the gage plate nearest the cutting side of the knife to extend above and free of said base and a slice receiver carried by the base and extending beneath and past the end of the gage mechanism remote from said knife and intermediate its length extending horizontally underneath the gage mechanism.

3. A slicing machine comprising a base, a frame mounted thereon, a vertically disposed knife journaled on said frame, gage plate mechanism including a vertically disposed gage plate for determining the thickness of slice to be cut by said knife, and an adjusting device for said plate, means extending laterally from the frame for supporting the gage plate and adjusting device free of and above the base, and a slice receiving tray mounted on said base and extending beneath the supporting means and end of the gage plate furthest from the knife.

l. A slicing machine comprising a knife rotatable in a vertical plane, a frame for rotatably carrying said knife, a vertically disposed gage plate for determining the thickness of slice to be cut by said knife, a housing, the bottom of which extends above and spaced from a supporting surface, a rigid connection between the frame and the housing, gage plate supporting and ad'- justing means within said housing and carried by the latter, and a slice receiving tray resting on the supporting surface and extending beneath and beyond both sides of said housing.

5. A slicing machine comprising a frame, a knife carried thereby for movement in a vertical plane, a cantilever beam supported at one end by said frame, a vertically disposed gage plate mechanism comprising adjustable devices for determining the thickness of slice to be cut by said knife, means for pendantly supporting said mechanism from the free end of said beam, said mechanism extending above and free of the base, and a slice-receiving tray mounted on the base and adapted to extend vertically beneath and beyond both sides of the adjustable devices of said mechanism.

6. In a slicing machine, a base, an upstanding frame thereon, a rotary disk knife journaled on said frame, a gage plate substantially parallel to said knife, an article feeder traversing the gage plate and knife, guiding means for the feeder mounted on the base, a support at the side of the gage plate opposite the feeder and on which the gage plate is adjustably mounted, adjusting means for the gage plate carried by said support, means connected to aforesaid frame for supporting said gage support from above, a brace for supporting the bottom of the gage support and bent away intermediately transversely to the plane of the gage plate towards the guiding means for the aforesaid feeder and connected to said base, and a slice receiver located beneath aforesaid support and beneath the intermediately bent portion of said brace.

'7. In a slicing machine having a base, a knife, a gage plate substantially parallel thereto, and an article feeder on one side of the gage plate for traversing the gage plate and knife; a housing at the side of the gage plate opposite said feeder, supporting connections between the housing and a plurality of points of the gage plate opposite the region of the gage plate adapted to be engaged by an article on the feeder, each point being adjacent a different corner of the gage plate, adjusting means within said housing for said gage plate, a manually operable member outside the housing for operating the adjusting means, a supporting structure for supporting the housing from the base including a brace rod connected at its upper end to the bottom of said housing and bent intermediately away from the housing towards the feeder to be connected at its lower end to the base beneath the feeder, and a slice receiver adapted to be located beneath the gage plate housing and the intermediate bent portion of said brace.

8. In a slicing machine adapted to be rested on a supporting surface, a base, an upstanding frame thereon, a generally vertical rotary disk knife journaled on said frame, a gage plate substantially parallel to said knife, an article feeder traversing the gage plate and knife, guiding means for the feeder mounted on the base, a generally vertical support for adjustably mounting the gage plate and having a rigid cantilever connection with an upper part of said frame to extend at the bottom above and spaced free of aforesaid supporting surface, and a brace element for steadying the support and connected at one end to the bottom of the support, intermediately extending generally horizontally from said support and above said supporting surface towards the feeder and connected at the other end to the base, whereby slices cut by the knife may be received beneath the bottom of said support and beneath the intermediate portion of the bracing element. a

9. A slicing machine comprising a knife rotatable in a vertical plane, a frame for rotatably carrying said knife, a vertically disposed gage plate for determining the thickness of slice to be cut by said knife, a housing, the bottom of 1 which extends above and spaced from a supporting surface, a rigid connection between the frame and the housing, gage plate supporting and adjusting means within said housing and carried by the latter, said support being free of and spaced from the bottom of the gage plate and housing to permit slices to be received directly beneath the latter and at and beyond opposite sides of the housing and gage plate.

GEORGE E. WOOD. 

